


Good People Will Do

by cortue



Category: Elementary (TV), Elementary/BBC Sherlock fusion, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 16:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cortue/pseuds/cortue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock apologizes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good People Will Do

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://cortue.tumblr.com/post/48938209921/tough-people-will-do-elementary-bbc-sherlock-fusion).

There are a lot of things Sally likes about her move to New York. Running into Sherlock Holmes in her office is not one of them

“ _You_ ,” she says, her entire body running through with sudden visceral hatred. “Who let you in here?”

Sherlock, surprisingly, looks vaguely guilty. Sally’s not fooled. It’s not the first time he’s faked human emotion.

“I’m afraid I took advantage of a momentary lapse in the front guard’s attention,” he says.

“I’ll be sure to have a talk with him about that after he shows you out,” Sally says, going to get the guard. She has no interest in actually touching Sherlock’s body, even for the satisfaction of throwing him out herself.

“Wait, Detective, please I promise this will take very little of your time.” Sally is thrown for a moment at the idea of Sherlock actually saying the word ‘please’, and he takes advantage of her hesitation to continue. “I merely came here to apologize and then to leave, I assure you.”

“What?” she asks, shocked. Of all the things in all the world she’d have ever expected to come out of his mouth, she’s pretty sure that sentence never would’ve made the list.

“As part of my journey towards sobriety, a very important step is to apologize for the people I have done wrong, and you, Detective Donovan are most decidedly on that list. I thought, in the past, to call you but I presumed that you would not pick up the phone.”

“You presumed right,” she says, emphatically, crossing her arms. She feels on edge, unsure of what he is playing at. Certainly there’s going to be a sucker punch in here somewhere, if she lets him go on long enough. She’s too curious to stop him, however. Story of her life.

“Yes,” he winces, “and you are entirely justified in that regard. I’m afraid my actions towards you in London were completely unforgivable, on too many occasions to name. Even then, it’s possible that I have forgotten some of them.” Sally hasn’t. Sally can remember ever time this man viciously made her appear the fool. It’s one of the less enviable things about having an infallible memory; she never runs out of material to berate herself with when she’s feeling low.

“Then why are you here, Sherlock?” She admits that this earnestness on his face might be sincere, but she’s got a lot of things to do today, and caring that Sherlock’s decided to try on having a conscience isn’t going to be one of them.  
“As I said, my actions were unforgivable, but I believe it is still my duty to give you an apology. It is the least I can do,” he says.

“Well, you’re right about one thing. What you did was unforgivable.” Sally has had a lot of practice in controlling her voice for conversations like these. People came to apologize to her for jokes they made about her probably not knowing her father, or not being able to brush her hair, but in their eyes she saw only their need for instant absolution. It took her years before she could hold onto her self respect enough to not give it to them. She’s certainly not going to give absolution to Sherlock bloody Holmes. Not when she can feel herself grow warm, just thinking about it, how he’d aired out her relationship with Anderson for the whole force to hear. There’d been jokes about it in the break room for months. Anderson had even laughed at some of them, the complete wanker. At least she’d had the pleasure of breaking it off with him in front of his wife, saying that she’d taken a shift on Saturday evening and it wouldn’t make sense for him to come round after all. Sally may make some of the worst relationship decisions on the planet, but she does at least get even in the end.

“Right,” Sherlock says, quietly, nodding, and it’s probably the way that he actually seems to accept the truth of her statement that makes her continue. That and the five year chip she still carries around with her every day, making sure to take it out on the really bad cases, the ones where she ends up having to question a lot of suspects in bars. The look her sister gives her sometimes when their parents order wine at dinner.

“But,” she says, feeling like she is going to regret this. Why is it that she can never hold on to anger when she really wants to, “if you are deciding to become a human after all, I suppose I can wish you luck on getting sober. Just as long as you never do it in my office again.”

“I-“ Sherlock looks surprised, “thank you, Detective.”

“I mean it, Sherlock, I don’t ever want to see your face again. It’s a big city, get lost.”

“I will,” he promises, getting up. “Most certainly. And,” he hesitates, “should you ever desire my help in a professional capacity again, I will offer it no questions asked. We need not interact in person. You know I prefer the text,” he jokes weakly.

“I remember,” she says. She’s not laughing.

“Yes, right, or you can always call my associate, Ms Watson, she would be more than able to provide high quality input and perspective.” Sherlock holds out a card for a Joan Watson. It used to say Sober Companion, but someone’s crossed that out and written Consulting Detective instead. Curious.

“Really don’t think I will,” she points out. She can handle her cases just fine.

“Yes, you’d hardly need the help, I’m sure, but should your caseload ever become overwhelming, you should know that you are not alone in this city. You are an exceptionally good detective, Ms. Donovan. I am truly sorry we are at odds.” It doesn’t change anything, certainly not, but Sally is surprised to find she might actually believe him a little about that last part.

She takes the card.


End file.
